Policy on browser cookies:

Our use of cookies

We use on our website, for a variety of reasons, session record-keepers known as ‘cookies'. There are two main types of cookie, which should be carefully distinguished: functional cookies and performance cookies. Functional cookies must conform to technical requirements and are used to ensure proper and secure connection to the website. Performance cookies are used to record some of your preferences in order to make your surfing easier, faster and more convenient. They are also used to offer goods or services, and for statistical purposes. Our objective with the use of cookies is to enable you to use our website conveniently and to provide you with the best possible service during your site visits. They enable us to optimise our site.

This policy statement is intended to inform you about the features and purposes of the cookies that we use. We also invite you to read our Terms & Conditions documents, which sets out the rules regarding privacy protection which apply to our websites.

What is a cookie?

A cookie is a small data file that the server saves on hard disk of your computer or on a mobile device with Internet access, such as a smartphone or a tablet. A cookie does not directly disclose your personal identity, but it does enable us to recognise the computer or device which you are using to browse the Internet.

Types of cookies

In addition to the legal distinction between functional cookies and performance cookies, cookies can be divided into categories according to their origin, function and lifetime.

First-party cookies (direct cookies): these cookies are set by us during your visit to our site.

Third-party cookies (indirect cookies): these cookies are set by a third party when you visit our website (such as cookies set by Google, Twitter or Facebook.

Performance cookies:these cookies are set on the website for statistical, social or commercial purposes or to generate general visitor profiles. The purpose of performance cookies is basically to make your browsing session easier, more convenient and more enjoyable. Performance cookies may be first-party or third-party.

Cookies set for statistics purposes enable the site managers to see which website pages you have visited and to geographically locate the computer/device used, e.g. Google Analytics.

Cookies set for social purposes enable users to share website content on the social networks ? Twitter, Facebook, et al ? if they wish.

Cookies set for profiling purposes enable the site managers to establish user profiles so as to be able to display advertising suited to their main interests ? e.g. DoubleClick cookies.

We may start using cookies set for advertising purposes, that record the advertisements that have been displayed during a user’s browsing sessions and their frequency. A number of cookies of this kind are used by Google Analytics. Convenience cookies may be either first-party or third-party cookies.

Persistent cookies: also known as 'tracking cookies', these outlast an individual session and remain on your hard disk for a predefined period of time or until you choose to delete them.

Session cookies: these are temporary cookies that enable visitors to navigate quickly and easily through the site during a browsing session. A browsing session begins when the visitor opens the browser window and ends when the visitor closes the window. All session cookies are deleted when you close your browser. Session cookies are usually functional cookies.

The Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB), an alliance of online advertising agencies, offers a lot of useful information and advice on behavioral advertising and online privacy at http://www.youronlinechoices.eu/.

What types of cookies do we use?

Cookie

Name

Purpose/More Information

Expiration

PHPSESSID

This cookie is used to establish the session of the user visiting the site. It is a way to identify and manage the state - session variables - for a particular user, and be able to move that information through our website.

Session

Google Analytics

_utma

This cookie generates a Single User ID and records the date, the first and last time the user visited the site. It is used to count how many times the Single User visits the site.

2 years

_utmb

This cookie records the time of arrival to the site and expires in the 30 minutes from the last visited page record. It is automatically deleted when changing or closing the web browser.

30 minutes

_utmc

This cookie is used along with the cookie _utmb to determine if after more than 30 minutes on the same page, it proceeds or not to establish a new session for the user.

Session

_utmz

This cookie stores the origin of the visitor, the path followed to access the web, that being either direct access, a link in another website, an e-mail link, the use of certain key words in a search engine, through a display campaign or through an AdWords advertising.

6 months

_utmv

This is an optional cookie, only used when from the data obtained from the registry are subsequently segmented into demographics data such as gender or age of visitors.

2 years

Your consent

When you visit our website for the first time, we call your attention to our cookies policy, so that if you wish you may configure your browser settings to limit or block the use of cookies. We also inform you how to consent to their use. You are free to accept or reject the cookies. However, you should be aware that if you refuse to accept cookies, this might make your browsing session on our website less convenient, or even impossible if you reject functional cookies.

Whatever you decide to do, you can always alter your choice by clicking the Cookies hyperlink at the bottom of every page of our website.

Adjusting your browser settings

Any time you wish, you can adjust your browser settings for accepting or rejecting cookies. These settings can generally be found in your browser's Options or Settings menu. For more information about these settings, we suggest you visit links below or click the Help tab in your browser.